MEXICO CITY  The last time President Felipe Calderón set foot in Mexico's Capitol building, the result was bedlam.

There were fistfights and shoving, protest signs and jeers as opposition lawmakers tried to stop his swearing-in ceremony Dec. 1, claiming he had won the election through fraud.

Saturday, the conservative president will go back into the fray to deliver his first State of the Union address.

He plans to chalk up a few political victories, lay out ambitious plans for the country and try to strengthen his authority after the razor-thin election win last year.

"In these first months, he's been able to take the seat of power, which was his main challenge, but that seat was full of thumbtacks," said Jorge Chabat, a social sciences professor at Mexico City's Center for Economic Research and Education. "The fact that he has consolidated his government and obtained some legitimacy are signs his government is on its way."

Calderón has pleased the Bush administration by extraditing a record 64 fugitives this year, including alleged drug kingpin Osiel Cárdenas, and by asking for U.S. aid to fight drug traffickers.

But he has been highly critical of U.S. plans to build a fence along the border and has demanded that the United States do more to combat the smuggling of guns into Mexico.

Whether Calderón will actually take the podium Saturday is unclear. Last year, opposition lawmakers rushed the dais, forcing then-President Vicente Fox to return to the presidential mansion and deliver the State of the Union address by television.

"I pray that maturity and sense will prevail," Calderón said last week.

The president might deliver a written address to Congress on Saturday, then give the speech Sunday at an auditorium where access would be restricted to invitees.

Mixed record

Calderón of the National Action Party won the election July 2, 2006, by 233,831 votes, or .58 percentage points. The rival Democratic Revolutionary Party refused to recognize the results, touching off months of demonstrations.

After taking office Dec. 1, Calderón moved to adopt a tough-sheriff image. He sent the army to quell drug violence, cut the salaries of high-ranking officials and rammed an overhaul of the government workers' pension system through Congress over the objections of powerful unions.

In an Aug. 4-9 poll commissioned by El Universal newspaper, 64% of Mexicans said they approved of the job Calderón is doing. A similar poll by the Milenio newspaper showed 50% of Mexicans said Calderón was doing better than they expected, compared with 31% who said he was doing worse than expected.

Calderón's critics say the army's drug crackdown is only a temporary fix that puts soldiers in a police role they are not prepared for.

"He sends out the army to fight organized crime, and puts them at risk: from the risk that they could be contaminated by corruption … to the risk that they will violate citizens' human rights," said Rep. Luis Sánchez of the opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party.

Poor Mexicans remain frustrated at the lack of improvement in their daily lives despite six years of economic stability. Anger over the country's lingering poverty helped fuel violent protests in the last months of Fox's presidency.

"If we don't solve the problems of millions of Mexicans who are in misery and we only do cosmetic things, the country could explode," said Rep. Alfredo Ríos of the rival Institutional Revolutionary Party.

A different style

Calderón has shown a talent for negotiating with Congress, something Fox never mastered, said César Hernández, a researcher with the Research Center for Development, a Mexican think tank.

Fox "had a totally different style of governing," Hernández said. "Calderón has showed himself to be a more professional president, more political, more capable of working with and getting things out of Congress."

Despite being a free-market conservative, Calderón re-established diplomatic relations with Venezuela, whose leftist President Hugo Chávez had withdrawn his ambassador to Mexico after an exchange of insults with Fox.

Calderón has also hosted the left-leaning leaders of Spain, Argentina and Brazil.

In public, Calderón has a more focused speaking style than Fox, who cultivated a folksy image but occasionally lacked tact. Fox once made a comment about Mexican immigrants in the USA who "are doing the work that not even blacks want to do."

Calderón's next big test is his proposed overhaul of Mexico's tax system, which is being debated in Congress.

His administration will also probably roll out bills aimed at improving Mexico's elections system and streamlining the courts, Hernández said.

"Much depends on what we're going to see in the coming weeks and whether he really manages to bring about reforms that can restore the people's faith in Mexico's ability to transform itself," Hernández said.

Hawley is Latin America correspondent for USA TODAY and The Arizona Republic

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Lawmakers scuffle before the arrival of Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon at the National Congress for his swearing-in ceremony. Lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to block the ceremony in Mexico City on Dec. 1, 2006.

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